they could just rewrite the law and the culture of the country, saying gay people have an equal right to get married in every state under the u.s. constitution. that's the big kahuna for advocates of gay marriage. but they can do a lot of things short of that. one thing they could do is strike down the federal law, the defense of marriage act, which says for federal purposes, 1,000 laws, tax benefits, access to people in hospitals, marriage is only between a man and a woman. they could just strike down that one and leave the rest up to the states. >> there's a whole range of things they could do. are the justices in any way influenced by the changing public opinion on this issue? we've seen a really dramatic shift in favor of gay marriage. >> that's the most interesting question in this case, dan. ten years ago, the supreme court would have decided this one way, probably unanimously or close to that. ten years from now, it will go the other direction. we're right at the hinge of history on this issue. does the supreme court crystallize what seems to be this emerging consensus, as you